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Best Films of the Past 20 Years

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Comments

  • RandomFanRandomFan Posts: 536 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate

    Forgot about Kingdom of Heaven in 2005. Such a well done Crusades-era movie, especially the extended version that makes some of Eva Green's story make much more sense.

    And it was loosely based on a true story. Very, very, very loosely, but still. The guy did exist and they did get some of the details correct.

  • AnotherDawgAnotherDawg Posts: 6,761 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate

    I enjoyed that movie as well. And Eva Green is too beautiful for words.

  • orlandoorlando Posts: 2,322 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate

    Watched it recently, really good and the John Wick series is very cool

  • KaseyKasey Posts: 28,881 mod

    Been meaning to watch hell or high water, life just gets in the way sometimes.

    However, if you liked that one, the writer had a new one recently (somewhat?) called Wind River that I found fantastic

  • HouzdawgHouzdawg Posts: 340 ✭✭✭✭ Senior

    “Fury”, “Anglish only”. My favorite Pitt movie! close second is “inglorious bastards”

  • AnotherDawgAnotherDawg Posts: 6,761 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate

    I thought they were both good, but I liked Wind River much more than Hell or High Water. May have been a matter of expectations. (None for the former, so it was a pleasant surprise, but pretty high for the latter, which it didn't live up to.)

  • WebslingrWebslingr Posts: 184 ✭✭✭✭ Senior

    Thanx much to the OP and contributors....found a few undiscovered gems:)

  • TNDawg71TNDawg71 Posts: 2,218 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate

    Baby Driver is a must see

  • AnotherDawgAnotherDawg Posts: 6,761 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate

    Ok. Fourth and final installment is here, covering the years 2000-2004. Really appreciate all the contributors to the thread. I think before I close it out next week I'll try to pull together everyone's recommendations and post a comprehensive list of the top 100 films (or so) of the past twenty years. Maybe folks can use it as a reference to find and watch the ones they might have missed. Especially now, with extra time on our hands.

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    2004

    Best Picture: Million Dollar Baby

    Top grossing film: Shrek 2

    My favorite: Sideways

    Honorable mention: The Aviator, Finding Neverland, Ray, The Passion of the Christ, Kill Bill- Vol. 2, Anchorman, Napoleon Dynamite, Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle

    Comments: Close call for favorite between Sideways and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. I've watched the former countless times because it's so true and real and... funny. In contrast, it's hard for me to watch the latter because it's so true and real and... painful. Both are beautiful films- written, directed, acted.

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    2003

    Best Picture: Lord of the Rings- Return of the King

    Top grossing film: Finding Nemo

    My favorite: Lost in Translation

    Honorable mention: Mystic River, Elf, Kill Bill- Vol 1, Big Fish, Old School

    Comments: This is the rare occasion where the top grossing film (Nemo) was also arguably the best film of the year. But I'll give my vote to Sofia Coppola's masterpiece, starring a perfectly cast Bill Murray & Scarlett Johansson in the lead roles.

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    2002

    Best Picture: Chicago

    Top grossing film: Spider-Man

    My favorite: The Bourne Identity

    Honorable mention: LOTR- Two Towers, The Pianist, Gangs of New York, Catch Me If You Can, 28 Days Later, Minority Report, Insomnia, Adaptation, Laurel Canyon

    Comments: Gangs is a personal favorite largely because of the individual performance of Daniel Day Lewis, but I chose Bourne because it represents the very best of the "action hero" genre of the past two decades, over any Bond film, the Mission Impossible series, or anything else.

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    2001

    Best Picture: A Beautiful Mind

    Top grossing film: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

    My favorite: Memento

    Honorable mention: LOTR- Fellowship of the Ring, Moulin Rouge, Shrek, Black Hawk Down, The Others, The Royal Tenenbaums, Super Troopers, Serendipity

    Comments: Memento was Christopher Nolan's first major film release. If you enjoyed Insomnia, The Prestige, Inception, Interstellar, Dunkirk, or any of the (Christian Bale) Batman films, it's worth watching this to catch a glimpse of the greatness that lay ahead.

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    2000

    Best Picture: Gladiator

    Top grossing film: How the Grinch Stole Christmas

    My favorite: Almost Famous

    Honorable mention: Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Traffic, Cast Away, X-Men, O Brother Where Art Thou, Remember the Titans, The Perfect Storm, Wonder Boys

    Comments: Almost Famous is basically Cameron Crowe's autobiography, set to good music, with great performances from an interesting mix of actors, including Billy Crudup, Frances McDormand, Kate Hudson, Jason Lee, and Philip Seymour Hoffman. It's poignant, funny, and kind of perfect.

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    Ok. What did I miss???

  • AnotherDawgAnotherDawg Posts: 6,761 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate
    edited March 2020

    I just looked back through the thread, and it's listed as one of my top three films of 2017, along with Dunkirk and Molly's Game.

  • texdawgtexdawg Posts: 11,574 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate

    Watching Hell or High Water again. Love it.

    I'm through those small towns often during hunting season.

    Really like how they use the actual small towns in the movie.

  • AnotherDawgAnotherDawg Posts: 6,761 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate

    Errors and Omissions:

    Kudos to @Ugadawg1993 for bringing up Contagion (2011) on another thread. It made me realize there were some worthy films I failed to mention in my initial posts. So here's a list of additional "honorable mentions," some of which have also been noted by others in this thread.

    Listed from the most recent to the oldest, dating back to 2000. Roughly half of these are comedies- not necessarily "great" films- but worth watching.

    Yesterday, Atomic Blonde, American Made, Wind River, The Revenant, The Accountant, Interstellar, Fury, Bridesmaids, Crazy **** Love, Limitless, Contagion, Get Him to the Greek, Couples Retreat, Adventureland, Superbad, The Interpreter, Munich, Along Came Polly, Friday Night Lights, Bruce Almighty, Meet the Parents.

  • texdawgtexdawg Posts: 11,574 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate
  • AnotherDawgAnotherDawg Posts: 6,761 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate

    Jeff- thanks for the nice words and for the suggestion. I just got home from my 16 hour road trip. Will give this some thought when my brain function returns.

    I also welcome input from everyone else on this thread.

  • AnotherDawgAnotherDawg Posts: 6,761 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate
    edited March 2020

    Taking advantage of the down time, I cobbled together a list all of the films mentioned on this thread. Would you believe the number is well over 200?!?

    So, to wrap things up, I've edited the complete list down to 100 films. If one of your personal favorites didn't make the cut, please forgive me. It's hard to eliminate half the films without stepping on some toes.

    For the record, I consulted Rotten Tomatoes' ratings for final cuts and films I had not seen, to determine which ones were most worthy of inclusion. (An imperfect process, but better than being arbitrary.)

    Naturally you can find any number of such lists online, but this one is ours, the official DawgNation Top 100 Films of the Past 20 Years. Thank you all for your contributions.

    EDIT: I meant to clarify- this final post is not for the purpose of further debate. It's just to collect the films in a single place so folks can re-visit the thread whenever they're looking for a movie to watch and want to find one they haven't seen before.

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    1917

    28 Days Later

    3:10 to Yuma

    A Quiet Place

    A Star is Born

    Adaptation

    Adventureland

    Almost Famous

    American Hustle

    An Education

    Argo

    Arrival

    Baby Driver

    Before Midnight

    Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead

    Birdman

    Borat

    Bridesmaids

    Bridge of Spies

    Captain Phillips

    Cast Away

    Catch Me If You Can

    Chef

    Contagion

    Crazy Heart

    Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon

    Django Unchained

    Donnie Darko

    Drive

    Dunkirk

    Edge of Tomorrow

    Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

    Ex Machina

    Finding Nemo

    First Man

    Ford vs. Ferrari

    Foxcatcher

    Gone Baby Gone

    Gone Girl

    Guardians of the Galaxy 1 & 2

    Hacksaw Ridge

    Hell or High Water

    In Bruges

    Inception

    Inglourious Basterds

    Insomnia

    Iron Man

    Kill Bill: Vol. 1 & 2

    Knives Out

    Kung Fu Panda

    Lost in Translation

    Manchester by the Sea

    Margin Call

    Memento

    Michael Clayton

    Million Dollar Baby

    Minority Report

    Molly’s Game

    Moneyball

    Mystic River

    Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

    Pan’s Labyrinth

    Parasite

    Philomena

    Rush

    Searching for Sugar Man

    Shrek 1 & 2

    Sideways

    Silver Linings Playbook

    Slumdog Millionaire

    Spider-Man (2002) & Reboot (2017-19)

    Spotlight

    The Artist

    The Avengers Series (Marvel)

    The Batman/Dark Knight Trilogy

    The Big Short

    The Bourne Trilogy

    The Departed

    The Grand Budapest Hotel

    The Hurt Locker

    The Imitation Game

    The King’s Speech

    The Lives of Others

    The Lord of the Rings Trilogy

    The Martian

    The Master

    The Pianist

    The Queen

    The Social Network

    The Trip

    The Wrestler

    There Will Be Blood

    Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

    Traffic

    United 93

    Up

    Up in the Air

    Whiplash

    Wind River

    Zero Dark Thirty

  • JoelSidneyKellyJoelSidneyKelly Posts: 3,678 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate

    Mr. Bean's Holiday is a fantastic movie.

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